iPad 3 Rumors: 0.8mm Thicker, Three Versions, and No Home Button

Submitted by lalit on February 28, 2012 - 5:22pm.

Even with an event like Mobile World Congress 2012 going on, today’s tech news has been all about iPad 3. Apple’s March 7th press event announcement has started a slew of iPad 3 rumors ranging from size of the upcoming tablet to design changes on iPad 3.

Thicker iPad 3: We have all see pics comparing iPad 2 and iPad 3 back covers and heard claims that iPad 3 is thicker that iPad 2, but we don’t know by how much. Well now Apple.pro has come to our rescue with images showing iPad 2 and 3 back covers thickness being measured by a caliper. iPad 2 measures at 8.69mm and iPad 3 measures at 9.50mm, which means iPad 3 is thicker by 0.81mm. (And yes the text labels in the image above are off by one decimal point.)

Three Versions of iPad 3:9to5Mac has gotten their hands on part numbers for upcoming Apple products. And these numbers indicate that Apple is going to have three versions of iPad 3. Mark Gurman wrote:

This J1 iPad is likely the WiFI-only model, and the J2 and J2a are likely different cellular-data-enabled versions. GSM/CDMA/LTE have all been rumored cellular-date types for the new iPad, so those two J2 models are likely some technical combination of the three.

Also, 9to5mac says that they have heard from a reliable source that Apple will be launching next generation Apple TV featuring faster A5 processor and 1080p video support along with the new iPad 3. There are rumors about a mystery accessory codenamed “B82” that will be launched along side iPad 3 and Apple TV, but there is no information about what that accessory is.

No Home Button: This rumor was started by the iPad image on Apple invite for March 7th event. The iPad image on the invite shows no home button below the application dock with Calendar app. If the layout is compared to current iPad 2 the home button should be just below the Maps and Calendar app. Ryan Faas wrote on Cult of Mac:

The spacing of the icon’s on the iPad 3 pictured on the invite clearly indicate that it’s in portrait orientation rather than landscape. But there’s no sign of a home button, a design change that Apple has been allegedly been toying with for some time.

Many other websites including Gizmodo and CNET have done in-depth research of the iPad image in the Apple invite and posted their findings.

Whatever the rumors are we will definitely get complete details about iPad 3 on March 7th. We will be doing live coverage of the Apple event please join us on live.TechzTalk.com on March 7th at 10 AM PST / 1PM EST.